Most people remember the late Jack Kemp as a Republican vice-presidential nominee, Congressman and staunch conservative tax cutter.
For Baby Boomers who grew up in Buffalo, another memory of Kemp endures: quarterback of the Bills. He led the team to consecutive American Football League championships in 1964-65. He won the league’s MVP award in 1965.
Until Jim Kelly came along, Kemp was the only Buffalo starting quarterback to ever win an American conference title. And, like most signal callers, Kemp sometimes had a love-hate relationship with the fans.
My most vivid memory of Kemp came in the summer of 1967 during an exhibition game in Buffalo’s War Memorial Stadium, better known as the Old Rockpile. Earlier that year, the Bills had traded Daryle Lamonica, a young, promising quarterback and Kemp’s backup, to the Oakland Raiders. In return, the Bills got a veteran quarterback named Tom Flores and receiver Art Powell.
It was the beginning of the end for Buffalo’s AFL dynasty. The championship team crumbled and Kemp became the symbol for the aging, struggling Bills. Lamonica, meanwhile, turned into a star and led the Raiders to league titles and a Super Bowl.
Back in the summer of ‘67, Flores started an exhibition game against the Philadelphia Eagles, but was injured in the fourth quarter. Kemp came off the bench to replace Flores. A thunderous chorus of boos echoed from the stands. Kemp then threw a 64-yard touchdown pass caught by Elbert “Golden Wheels” Dubenion. The crowd went wild and Kemp left the field to a standing ovation.
Such is life for an NFL quarterback. One minute you’re a bum, the next a hero. Kemp knew the story all too well. He grew up in Los Angeles once told me during an interview that he followed the then Los Angeles Rams. They had a quarterback controversy in between Bob Waterfield and Norm Van Brocklin.
“It was one or the other,” Kemp said. “People were always arguing about it.”
There was so much more to Jack Kemp than football. Throughout his life, he fought to improve economic and social conditions for poor people and minorities. An example came during his football days.
The AFL all-star game was to be played in New Orleans in January, 1965. But the nearly two dozen African-American players involved in the game faced racial insults, were barred from night clubs and ignored by taxis.
The African-American players met in their hotel and voted not to play in the game. Jack Kemp “was the only white player to stand with them from the beginning,” star defensive tackle Ernie Ladd said, according to Nola Beez, whose story appeared on the New American Media website. Eventually the city changed its stand and the game was played.
That kind of moral action was typical for Jack Kemp. He may have been a Republican but wore with pride the strange label of “bleeding heart conservative.”
Such a moniker doesn’t seem to fit a guy who ran for vice-president in 1996 with Bob Dole and served as Housing and Urban Development Secretary under President George H.W. Bush, from 1989-93. Kemp’s tax cutting passion made him a favorite with President Reagan.
Columnist Cal Thomas once asked Kemp why Republicans should care about poor people and poor black people, who voted for Democrats for years.
“Because it shows compassion, concern and kindness toward people who are less fortunate,” Kemp replied. “Practically, it will result in a much expanded Republican Party, but of greater importance, it will produce a more civil nation.”
Kemp defied political stereotypes. He cut his political teeth as a Congressman from the Buffalo area in Western New York. It is generally a Democratic region, but Republican Kemp served nine consecutive terms from 1971 until 1989.
Jack Kemp died in May, 2009, after suffering from cancer. Later that year, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama.
The White House stated that, “in the years leading up to his death, Kemp continued seeking new solutions, raising public attention about the challenge of poverty, and working across party lines to improve the lives of Americans and others around the world.”
That’s the way America remembers Jack Kemp. I share that memory but in my mind I can’t forget one August night in 1967 when old No. 15 majestically turned boos into cheers.
Villager Tony Violanti writes for Villages-News.com. He can be reached at tonyviolanti@villages-news.com
